January 05, 2010

Contact:   Stacey Schmeidel, 704/894-2798

Doris Buffett

DAVIDSON, NC -- Doris Buffett, a Nebraska-based philanthropist whose generosity, Midwestern values and

no-nonsense approach to decision-making have led people to call her "the Sunshine Lady," will speak at Davidson College on Tuesday, Jan. 12, at 7 p.m. in the Smith 900 Room of the Alvarez College Union. The talk-a conversation with Davidson College President Tom Ross-is open to the public at no charge.

Now 81 years old, Buffett grew up in Omaha, Neb., the oldest child of Leila and Howard Buffett. (Her brother is investor and businessman Warren Buffett.) Doris Buffett has, over the course of her life, been a political activist, an advocate against domestic violence, a first-grade schoolteacher, and a mother and grandmother. In 1996, she established The Sunshine Lady Foundation, designed to break cycles of poverty, abuse and economic dependence through investing in education. The foundation also seeks to foster the growth of philanthropy by teaching modern, socially responsible philanthropy. Since its inception, The Sunshine Lady Foundation has awarded more than $50 million in grants.

Sunshine Lady grants are considered investments, and "the decision to grant funds," according to the foundation's Web site, "is always based on an expected successful return."

Davidson College has several interesting connections with The Sunshine Lady Foundation. As part of their coursework, students in Prof. Ken Menkhaus' POL 324 class, Philanthropy and the Non-Profit Sector, engage in a "learning-by-doing" philanthropic project that involves disbursing $10,000 in Sunshine Lady grant funds to a worthy cause. Students work in teams to solicit grant applications, evaluate them, and award the money. They then write a 10-page paper about their experience.

There are other Davidson connections to The Sunshine Lady Foundation. Several Davidson students have received Sunshine Lady grants since the program began. The most recent example is Jared Smith '11, a Bonner Scholar and an intern in the college's Community Service Office. He received a $10,000 grant that helped HealthReach Community Clinic of Mooresville to implement a new electronic medical records software system.

Davidson is a highly selective independent liberal arts college for 1,800 students located 20 minutes north of Charlotte in Davidson, N.C. Since its establishment in 1837 by Presbyterians, the college has graduated 23 Rhodes Scholars and is consistently regarded as one of the top liberal arts colleges in the country. Through The Davidson Trust, the college became the first liberal arts institution in the nation to replace loans with grants in all financial aid packages, giving all students the opportunity to graduate debt-free. Davidson competes in NCAA athletics at the Division I level, and a longstanding Honor Code is central to student life at the college.

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